Dale and I left my vehicle parked in Damascus and headed for the trail. We hadn't hiked too far when I stopped in my tracks to allow my brain to comprehend the information flooding through my eyes. Are those...how many are there...where do they lead...how fresh are they? Once my brain caught up with my eyes, I confirmed, yes, those are BEAR tracks ON. THE. TRAIL. "Dale, look at that." Although I was hoping the tracks were yesterday's, Dale thought they were fresh. So fresh, in fact, that we scared the bear off the trail just moments before. As usual, Dale was calm and rather looking forward to spotting the beast that left this deep impression--literally and emotionally. As we moved on, I continued to chat incessantly and knock my poles together occasionally in effort to encourage said beast to also move along, preferably away from us and the trail. Soon after, two trail runners came up behind us. They had seen the tracks, and were hoping, like Dale, to see this bear.
We continued on, stopping at a side trail leading to a spring. Directly across the trail was a great camp site. It invited us to stop for a snack break. We obliged then continued on as south-bound day-hikers. Upon reaching our destination, the Tennessee/Virginia state line, I took pictures of the signage, one of my hiking fetishes (the others are pictures of blazes and shelters).
After only a few minutes, we turned back toward Damascus. Hiking north-bound, I saw something I had never seen before: an N scratched into a white blaze.
We completed our round trip hike in good time for this team: seven miles in about five hours, I think.
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